The Section of Surgical Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) invites applications and nominations for the position of Chief Business Officer (CBO). Within VUMC, Surgical Sciences is a large and diverse unit consisting of eight departments housing eleven divisions providing state of the art clinical care, conducting ground breaking research, and leading highly sought after medical education programs. In a region populated by multiple healthcare providers, Surgical Sciences seeks to increase its clinical footprint geographically by leveraging VUMC’s stellar reputation for top notch, quality patient care. To achieve these ambitious goals, the Section is seeking a dynamic and collaborative CBO to partner with the Chair of the Section, the various department chairs within it, and with VUMC’s senior leadership.

Reporting to the Chair of Surgical Sciences, Dr. Seth Karp, the CBO will oversee all administrative and clinical operations, financial planning and budgeting, human resources and recruitment, as well as space planning for the section. The CBO also has a dotted line reporting relationship to VUMC’s Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Chief of Staff, Dr. John Manning. The CBO is supported by a team of seven direct reports: two in the education area and then one each in finance, special projects, personnel support, IT and media support, and administrative support. The five administrative officers that oversee the Section’s multiple adult and pediatric departments also have a dotted line reporting line relationship to the CBO. Currently, the Section has 244 clinical faculty and 177 resident fellows in all clinical, educational, and research activities. The Section performs 51,000 operations annually with an operating budget of $88 million and approximately $7.2 million in NIH funding in 2018.

The Section is seeking a CBO with a proven track record of successfully guiding organizations through periods of change, while keeping a forward thinking eye on the ever evolving health care climate within the region and beyond. The CBO will support and partner with the Section chair and other departmental leaders by providing the quality data and analysis needed for departmental decision making across the full spectrum of clinical volume growth, operations, finance, human resources, faculty engagement, and recruitment. Given the size and diverse nature of the Section, the next CBO will bring a nuanced understanding of the complexities of overseeing departments and divisions differing in size, scale, and patient populations. Moreover, the next CBO will bring strong financial acumen based on experience with compensation modeling across different disciplines and a well honed knowledge of funds flow. Above all, the Section requires a CBO who is a superb communicator, approachable, available, collegial, and works to gain trust and earn buy-in through team work.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has retained Isaacson, Miller to assist in this search. Patricia Hastie is leading this search with Kahn Lee. Inquiries, nominations and applications should be directed in confidence to: www.imsearch.com/6940.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is committed to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.